Ondi Timoner’s wildly entertaining documentary tells a familiar rock n’ roll tale, one filled with crazy nights, substance abuse, out-of-control parties, temper tantrums, art-versus-commerce debates, musical differences, onstage fights, and smashed sitars. What makes DIG! so electrifying is that you see it all unfold in front of the cameras, as Timoner follows the
Performing Arts - Page 7
DIG!
The Rolling Stones: Gimme Shelter
The rock movie’s very own Zapruder film, Gimme Shelter stands today as a landmark portrait of a band and a generation that changed the stakes between the two camps forever. What starts as an electrifying document of the Rolling Stones’ performances on their fiery 1969 American tour switches to an inquiry into the satanic Altamont concert where Hell’s Angels — hired by the
Jimi Hendrix: Live at Woodstock
In 1999, when Experience Hendrix (the family company that now controls Jimi’s legacy) released the DVD entitled ‘Jimi Hendrix Live at Woodstock,’ they claimed that the contents of that DVD was all that remained of one of the most important musical historical documents of all time. Woodstock
American Hardcore
The history of hardcore punk–the tougher, faster, and more politically minded stepchild of the ’70s punk movement that arose in the ’80s–is examined in exuberant detail in Paul Rachman’s documentary American Hardcore. Rachman’s cameras careen across the landscape of the U.S. to trace the movement’s beginnings in cities like Los Angeles, Washington,
Air Guitar Nation
In this documentary from filmmaker Alexandra Lipsitz, the cameras roll to capture the fierce competitive spirit that defined the first annual U.S. Air Guitar Championship. Staged in Finland and featuring some of the fastest-fingered shredders on the planet, the U.S. Air Guitar Championship would bring a hobby once contained to the bedroom directly into the spotlight
Rize
Noted photographer David LaChapelle makes his feature directorial debut with this documentary on a new facet of street culture in South Central Los Angeles. In 1992, after long-simmering racial tensions in Los Angeles erupted in riots following the verdicts in the Rodney King trial, a man named
Spellbound
Eight youngsters vie for one of the most hotly contested academic awards in the United States in this documentary. Every spring, the Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee attracts students from all over the United States, and filmmaker Jeff Blitz follows eight promising entrants as they journey to Washington, D.C., in hopes of claiming the national
Pink Floyd: The Making of The Dark Side of the Moon
If there are a handful of albums in the rock universe that deserve a bells-and-whistles DVD treatment, Dark Side of the Moon is clearly among them. In the ’70s and ’80s, the classic 1973 album by Pink Floyd remained on the Billboard 200 for a staggering 741 consecutive weeks, a record that will likely stand forever. Echoing themes of alienation, paranoia, and death, it
Making: The Shining
This documentary is followed around Jack Nicholson as he prepared for the ‘Here’s Johnny!’ scene and interviewed the actors about there relationship with Stanley Kubrick, the scripts and scene. The Shining is a 1980 horror film directed by Stanley Kubrick, based on Stephen King’s novel of the same name. Kubrick co-wrote the screenplay with novelist Diane Johnson.
The Punk Rock Movie
The Punk Rock Movie was assembled from Super 8 camera footage shot by Don Letts, the disc jockey at The Roxy club during the early days of the UK punk rock movement, between 1977 and 1979. The film captures the energy and vibrancy of this period, and features archive live footage of the bands The Clash, the Sex Pistols, Wayne County & the Electric Chairs,